Dear fellow MoveOn member,

If you've had trouble following the latest developments in Congress, you're not alone. So I wanted to take a moment to update you and share our next steps for passing President Biden's transformative Build Back Better plan.

As you probably know, the Build Back Better plan is moving forward in two separate bills. The first bill, focused on infrastructure, includes a mix of good things and not-so-good things and passed the Senate in September with the support of Mitch McConnell and 19 other Republicans.¹

The second bill includes a sweeping set of reforms that help everyday Americans and that corporate-backed Republicans hate, including lower drug prices, expanded pre-K, free community college, paid family leave, and raising taxes on the ultra-wealthy.

Last week, there was a big push to pass only the Republican-backed infrastructure bill in the House while leaving the crucial second bill by the wayside. But House progressives refused to go along, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi did not allow a vote on the bill, a key step toward victory.

Now, we're facing a new threat. Joe Manchin is demanding that the bill be cut by more than half, which would almost surely gut some of the most critical parts of the bill.

To succeed in this new phase of the campaign, we must accomplish one key strategic objective: educate voters on what's actually in the bill.

Now, that should be the job of the mainstream media, but instead they've been focused on building false, shock-value narratives about the cost of the bill—$3.5 trillion—without providing any context, making it easy for Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema, and the Republicans to attack it. But failing to invest in education, clean energy, and health care ... in order to preserve tax breaks for Jeff Bezos? That's wildly unpopular—and to win, we need to make sure everyone knows that's really what's at stake.

That's why my friends at MoveOn are launching a big new public education push including ads on radio and the internet, viral videos on social media, and big, visible public protests to make sure people know what's in this bill, why it must be passed, and to promote the victory throughout the 2022 midterm election cycle. I'm asking you to become a monthly donor to help MoveOn fund this effort through 2022. Will you chip in $5 a month?

Yes, I'll chip in monthly.

No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.

Breaking through the media noise isn't easy, so this campaign needs to be well resourced. But we can win if we can get our message out, because the investments included in this bill are hugely popular.

Here's a list of what's most in danger of being cut if Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema get their way:

Expanded pre-K, which would give all kids, no matter their race or financial status, the best start to their education.
Medicaid coverage of dental, vision, and hearing—filling a critical gap that disproportionately impacts low-income communities.
Free community college—which would give millions of students in underserved communities the chance to access higher education and find good-paying jobs for their futures.
Lowered drug costs by allowing Medicare to negotiate lower prices—a change that could finally stop greedy drug companies from price gouging consumers on lifesaving medications like insulin.
Paid family leave for new parents and those caring for sick relatives—a program which would finally end the United States' shameful position as one of only three nations not to provide such a service.
Child tax credits—a transformative policy that would immediately lift millions of children in the United States out of poverty.
Increased clean energy to solve the climate crisis—a critical step toward tackling the existential crisis of our lifetime.

All of these programs poll through the roof with voters, even in red states like West Virginia. So why are they trying to kill them? In order to protect tax breaks for ultra-wealthy people like Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg.

We can win this fight. We must win this fight if we want to win in 2022. But we can't wait for the mainstream media to educate the public about what's at stake. It's up to us. Will you chip in $5 a month?

Yes, I'll chip in monthly.

No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.

Thanks for all you do.

–Robert Reich

Source:

1. "Here Are The Republicans Who Voted For The Infrastructure Bill In The Senate," NPR, August 10, 2021
https://act.moveon.org/go/159256?t=6&akid=308115%2E40999114%2E8YobxD

Want to support MoveOn's work? The GOP is launching an all-out campaign to take down the Democratic majority in Congress and reinstall Mitch McConnell as Senate majority leader in 2022. To defeat the GOP, MoveOn is going all-in with TV ads, a nationwide grassroots organizing campaign, and more.

Will you chip in to power MoveOn's effort to defeat McConnell and the GOP in 2022?

Yes, I'll chip in $5 a month.

No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.

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